GOODSPEED MUSICALS AUDIENCE INSIGHTS MICHAEL GENNARO Executive Director
MICHAEL P. PRICE Founding Director presents
Book by MICHAEL STEWART
Music by CHARLES STROUSE
Lyrics by LEE ADAMS
Originally produced by EDWARD PADULA
Scenic Design by Costume Design by Lighting Design by TOBIN OST DAVID TOSER PHILIP S. ROSENBERG
Projection Design by Sound Design by Wig & Hair Design by DANIEL BOONE JAY HILTON MARK ADAM RAMPMEYER
Assistant Music Director Orchestrations by Dance Arrangements by F. WADE RUSSO DAN DeLANGE DAVID KRANE
Production Manager Production Stage Manager Casting by R. GLEN GRUSMARK BRADLEY G. SPACHMAN STUART HOWARD & PAUL HARDT
Associate Producer Line Producer General Manager BOB ALWINE DONNA LYNN COOPER HILTON RACHEL TISCHLER
Music Direction by MICHAEL O'FLAHERTY
Choreographed by PATRICIA WILCOX
Directed by JENN THOMPSON
JUNE 24 - SEPT 4, 2016 THE GOODSPEED TABLE OF CONTENTS
Character & Show Synopsis...... 4
Bye Bye Birdie Glossary...... 6
Meet the Writers...... 8
Director's Vision...... 10
Behind the Scenes: Costume Design...... 11
Program Notes...... 12
1961: A New Frontier...... 14
A Rock Revolution...... 16
Interesting Facts...... 18
Resources...... 18
Goodspeed’s Audience Insights can be found on our website: www.goodspeed.org/guides
Audience Insights for Bye Bye Birdie was prepared by: Erin Lafferty, Education & Outreach Manager Katherine Desjardins, Creative Content Manager
Audience Insights updated 06.27.16
3 CHARACTER & SHOW SYNOPSIS
Rhett Guter as Conrad Birdie. THE CHARACTERS ©Diane Sobolewski As the curtain rises on Sweet ALBERT PETERSON: a devoted son to an overbearing Apple, Ohio, a mother and head of the Almaelou Music Corporation. He group of teenagers works as Conrad Birdie’s agent, songwriter, and publicist. He are gathered making is in love with Rose Alverez, but will not admit it because his telephone calls to each mother dislikes her. His dream is to be an English teacher. other about the recent “pinning” of Hugo Peabody ROSE ALVEREZ: the smart and sassy Latina secretary and Kim MacAfee, who are and girlfriend of Albert Peterson. She concocts the now officially “going steady” (“The idea to help Albert pay off his debt by offering "one Telephone Hour”). Kim explains last kiss” to a fan before Birdie goes off to war. to her friend Ursula Merkle that she has decided to resign KIM MacAFEE: the winner of Conrad Birdie’s “one from the Conrad Birdie Fan last kiss;” she recently started going “steady” with Club and become a more Hugo Peabody. mature young woman, even though she is just fifteen MRS. DORIS MacAFEE: Kim and Randolph years old (“How Lovely to be MacAfee’s mother. a Woman”).
MR. HARRY MacAFEE: Kim and Randolph In the New York City office of MacAfee’s ill-tempered father. Almaelou Music Corp., Albert Peterson discovers that his RANDOLPH MacAFEE: Kim’s younger, well- superstar singing sensation, behaved brother. Conrad Birdie, has been drafted into the army. Since Conrad has MRS. MAE PETERSON: Albert Peterson’s a $50,000 guarantee that Albert overbearing mother. She is constantly nagging him cannot pay, this is a big problem. and she uses his sense of devotion to control him. Albert’s secretary and girlfriend Rosie Alvarez also walks in with CONRAD BIRDIE: a rock n' roller, inspired by Elvis Presley, bad news: she is resigning who was drafted to go to war. and leaving Albert and his company forever. She is angry HUGO PEABODY: Kim’s “steady,” or boyfriend, who is because Albert has not extremely jealous of Conrad Birdie. followed through with his promise to marry her and URSULA MERKLE: Kim MacAfee’s over-excited best become an English teacher friend and a Conrad Birdie enthusiast. (“An English Teacher”). Distraught over the fact MAYOR MERKLE: Ursula’s father and the mayor of that she is leaving him, Sweet Apple, Ohio. Albert makes a deal. If Rosie will help get the MAYOR’S WIFE: Mayor Merkle's wife and money to pay the Ursula’s mother who is also infatuated $50,000, he will go with Conrad Birdie. back to school, receive his teaching MRS. PERKINS: Kim MacAfee’s friend degree and marry her. Margie’s mother Rosie agrees and comes up with an idea for Conrad’s last hit. Conrad will sing MR. JOHNSON: the father of Harvey a song titled “One Last Kiss” and in order to make him Johnson, Sweet Apple’s resident nerdy more famous, Rosie arranges for him to kiss a randomly teen. selected president of one of his fan clubs. The president she and Albert pick is Kim MacAfee. GLORIA RASPUTIN: a Russian tap dancer who Mae Peterson wants her son to have as his secretary and to date. Albert, Rosie and Conrad travel to Penn Station for
4 Conrad’s last press event before leaving for Sweet Apple, Ohio searching for their kids and encounter Hugo, who proclaims (“Bye Bye Birdie”). Albert runs into his mother and attempts to he is going to drink himself to death now that Kim has run off tell her of his plans to close down Almaelou and marry Rosie, with Conrad. but she becomes so distraught over Albert telling her of his plans to close the company that he does not even mention Hugo ends up at a bar, where he tries unsuccessfully to buy Rosie. Mrs. Peterson leaves and Albert tries to present Conrad a drink. Meanwhile, Rosie buys tequila and proclaims herself as an upstanding American citizen, though the questions to be the Spanish Rose, a better woman than Mrs. Peterson’s from the reporters reveal that he is not. Albert, Rosie and false perception of her (“Spanish Rose”). Albert calls to talk Conrad depart for Sweet Apple (“A Healthy Normal American to Rosie, but she refuses the call after Albert says he needs Boy”). to find Conrad (“Baby, Talk to Me”). She hangs up and Albert vows to get her back. Rosie sees Hugo, who mentions that Arriving in Sweet Apple, Conrad is introduced to Kim and the Conrad has run off with Kim to the Ice House. Rosie realizes members of the Conrad Birdie Fan Club. Hugo tells Kim that her mistake and takes Hugo to find Albert and Conrad. Albert he is very upset about her plan to kiss another boy right after rushes into the bar, looking for Rosie and is confronted by they started going steady. Kim reassures him that he is the his mother. Instead, Albert tells her to go home, saying he only boy for her (“One Boy”). Rosie longingly admires Hugo’s does not need her anymore (“A Mother Does Not Matter dedication to Kim and Albert tries to cheer her up (“Put On Anymore”). Mr. and Mrs. MacAfee rush in, along with the a Happy Face”). After the mayor gives Conrad the key to the parents of many other girls in the town and Mrs. Peterson, city, Conrad sings for the town, causing all the women and and they all head towards the Ice House (“Kids Reprise”). girls, including Kim, to swoon and faint (“Honestly Sincere”). Conrad and Kim are in the ice house smoking while Conrad The next morning, Albert discovers Ursula and the rest of realizes his upcoming responsibility. Suddenly, all the teenage the Conrad Birdie Fan Club singing to Conrad outside his girls rush in and pull Conrad into a screaming, dancing mass window (“Put On a Happy Face Reprise”). Inside the house, (“Ice House Livin’”). The parents and policemen enter, arrest Mrs. McAfee and Kim try to hurry Mr. MacAfee through his a grateful Conrad and break up the party. As Conrad is led breakfast in anticipation of Conrad waking up, but all Conrad away and Kim and Hugo are reunited, Albert proclaims his does is drink a beer and return to bed. Disgusted by his love for Rosie and insists he intends on marrying her after he behavior, Mr. MacAfee threatens to throw Conrad out. Albert bails Conrad out of jail (“An English Teacher Reprise”). Rosie calms Mr. MacAfee down by promising the whole family a reconciles with Mrs. Peterson (“Spanish Rose Reprise”). cameo on The Ed Sullivan Show (“Ed Sullivan”). The next morning, Albert leads a disguised Conrad to the At the theatre before the Ed Sullivan filming, Albert tells Rosie train. Conrad promises Albert he does not have to pay his he has written to his mother to say he is closing Almaelou. guarantee anymore in return for saving him from the girls. Rosie is thrilled, but Mrs. Peterson shows up and blames Rosie The parents, kids and Kim all enter with the news that Hugo for the letter and Almaelou’s closing. On The Ed Sullivan Show, and Kim are back together again. Albert surprises Rosie by Conrad sings to Kim and prepares to kiss her (“One Last Kiss”). presenting a train ticket to Pumpkin Falls, Iowa, where he Out of nowhere, Hugo knocks Conrad out cold while Kim plans to join the teaching staff of the junior high school runs off. Albert rushes onto the stage while Rosie confesses to (“Rosie”). He and Rosie happily agree to marry (“Bye Bye Birdie letting Hugo into the theatre. She leaves Albert to deal with Reprise”). the mess, all of which has happened on live television (“A Healthy Normal American Boy Reprise”).
Rosie returns to the MacAfee house and prepares to leave. Kim enters, trying to comfort her as they both lament their choice in men (“What Did I Ever See In Him?”). Rosie encounters Conrad, Mrs. Peterson and Albert, who boasts about how big of a music industry giant he will become (“What Did I Ever See In Him? Reprise”). Kim sneaks out while her parents lament how horrible kids are these days (“Kids”). TIME magazine calls looking for Rosie. Albert confesses she has gone and realizes how much she means to him. Mrs. Peterson tells Albert that Conrad has snuck out with plans to have one last night out before boot camp and Albert panics (“A Lot of Livin’ To Do”). Kim joins Conrad and the girls as they all decide to head to the ice house. The parents start The cast of Goodspeed's Bye Bye Birdie. ©Diane Sobolewski
5 BYE BYE BIRDIE GLOSSARY
ACT I, SCENE 1 CAPITOL 7 DOUBLE EIGHT TWO OH: an old fashioned PINNED: in the '60s, a girl would get pinned by a guy phone number. The first two letters of the first word were when he made her his girlfriend. He would formalize the translated to numbers when dialing a number. The first relationship by putting a silvery pin on her, signifying that the two letters of "Capitol'' would have been "2," "2". The whole girl is taken. number would be 227-8820. Area codes (such as "860") were not widely used. GOING STEADY: when two people are considered to be "going out" or "dating." ACT I, SCENE 4 OPERATOR: through the 1960s, companies used manual ACT I, SCENE 3 telephone INDUCTION CENTER: a switchboards, place where new military and switchboard recruits are examined and operators processed. connected calls by inserting a pair of "EVERY WOMAN ALIVE phone plugs into WANTS CHANEL NO. 5": the appropriate in the 1960s, the glossy jacks. fashion magazines such as Vogue and Bazaar ACT I, SCENE 5: presented the perfume CREED: an idea or Chanel No. 5 as a required set of beliefs that Telephone operators accessory to every guides the actions of a person or group. woman's femininity. Two catch phrases alternated RUBBERS: also known as galoshes, these are protective as ad copy: "Every woman overshoes for walking in the rain and will keep your shoes alive wants Chanel No. 5" dry. and "Every woman alive loves Chanel No. 5." ACT I, SCENE 8: HARPIES: originally from Greek mythology, three bat- FIFTY-THOUSAND DOLLAR GUARANTEE: a monetary like women who served the lord of the underworld. It is advance payable upon signing a contract. As all advances are more modernly used to describe annoyingly noisy and non-returnable and recoupable only from future earnings, disagreeable females. they constitute a financial guarantee. MAGNA CARTA: a fundamental constitution or law PHI BETA KAPPA: the oldest academic honor society in the guaranteeing rights and liberties. United States. The organization honors the brightest college students accross the nation. NERO: the Emperor of Rome from a.d. 54-68 who was known for his cruelty and depravity. GEOFFREY CHAUCER: 1340-1400, ''the Father of English Literature," he is considered the greatest English poet of THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW: the Middle Ages, and is particularly important to English an American TV language literature because he dared to write in the common variety show that man's tongue. ran on CBS from 1948 to 1971. It WILLIAM MORRIS: the William Morris Agency was a was hosted by New Hollywood based talent agency. lt represented some of the York entertainment best known 20th century entertainers in film, television, and columnist Ed music. During its 109 year tenure it came to be regarded as Sullivan. It set the "first great talent agency in show business" a record as the longest-running JOAN OF ARC: a French military leader of the fifteenth variety show in U.S. century. She was a national heroine who, at the age of broadcast history. seventeen, took up arms to establish the rightful king on the French throne. She claimed to have heard God speak to her in voices. 6 ACT I, SCENE 9: TELEGRAM: a message sent by telegraph and then delivered GREED: a 1924 American silent film in written or printed form. bassed on the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague. It stars Gibson TOUCH SYSTEM: a typing system in which the fingers are Gowland as Dr. John McTeague, trained to find the correct keys, permitting the typist to read Zasu Pitts as his wife Trina Sieppe and type copy without looking at the keyboard. and Jean Hersholt as McTeague's friend and eventual enemy Marcus ACT I, SCENE 1O: Schouler. COLOR SLIDES: a photography format which used film. After a photo was taken, the film was mounted between DOLORES del RIO: (1905- two pieces of cardboard and could be viewed in a "slide" 1983) an actress originally from presentation. Mexico who was a regular on the Hollywood party circuit when she Dolores del Rio ACT 2, SCENE 1: was discovered in the 1920s and made a career in both silent BENEDICT ARNOLD: a traitor. Benedict Arnold originally movies and the talkies. fought for the patriot cause against England in the American Revolutionary War, but after disappointment over his career GENE RAYMOND: (1908-1998) an actor who debuted on advancement, he switched sides, giving patriot secrets to the Broadway at age 12 and worked in the movies for 40 years. British Army. J. EDGAR HOOVER: (1895 MUSOLLINI/ROSSELLINI: - 1972) was the first Director a comic confusion of the of the Federal Bureau of names Benito Musollini Investigation (FBI) of the United and Roberto Rossellini. States. He was appointed Musollini was a brutal director of the Bureau of Italian dictator who held Investigation—predecessor to power from 1922-1945. the FBI—in 1924. Hoover was Roberto Rossellini was an instrumental in founding the Italian film director. FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death. Hoover INGRID BERGMAN: a is credited with building the popular film star who Rossellini and Bergman FBI into a larger crime fighting caused a scandal when she left her husband and child to be agency, and with instituting a with Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, whom she later number of modernizations to J. Edgar Hoover married. police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories. ACT 2, SCENE 2: TERRAMYCIN: an antibiotic used mostly for skin problems, such as acne.
SAMMY KAYE: a bandleader with a TV variety show that ran for 1O years starting in 1950.
ACT 2, SCENE 3: ICE HOUSE: a building for storing ice that was common in past times when ice was routinely delivered to homes.
LOOP THE LOOP: a carnival ride where the riders complete at least one 360° roll.
ACT 2 SCENE 5: FLYING DOWN TO RIO: a 1933 musical film noted for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, though Dolores del Rio and Gene Raymond received top Loop the Loop billing and the leading roles. 7 MEET THE WRITERS
CHARLES STROUSE (Music) Charles Strouse was born in New York City on June 7, 1928. He began taking piano lessons at the age of ten, and at the young age of 15, he entered the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. After graduating in 1947, he held various music-related jobs and studied with Aaron Copland, Nadia Boulanger and David Diamond.
In 1949, Strouse met lyricist Lee Adams at a party, and a long and successful partnership was formed. The duo began contributing songs to revues at the Green Mansions summer resort in the Adirondacks, which led to their writing tunes for numerous New York revues in the mid-‘50s as well as special material for performers such as Kaye Ballard, Carol Burnett and Jane Morgan.
In 1958, producer Edward Padula was auditioning writing teams for a new musical about American teenagers, and Adams and Strouse won. Within a year, they wrote over 50 possible songs for the show that would ultimately become Bye Bye Birdie. It opened on Charles Strouse Broadway in 1960 and was an enormous success, winning six Tony Awards including Best Musical.
After the success of Bye Bye Birdie, Strouse grew to become one of America's most successful musical theatre composers. He followed up with All American in 1962, It's A Bird… It's A Plane… It's Superman in 1966 and Applause in 1970, which earned him his second Tony.
In 1976, Strouse teamed up with lyricist Martin Charnin and librettist Thomas Meehan to develop Annie at The Goodspeed before it moved to Broadway in 1977 for a remarkable run of 2,377 performances. The Broadway phenomenon earned Strouse his third Tony Award.
Strouse has written scores for over 30 stage musicals, including 14 that went on to Broadway, four Hollywood films, two orchestral works and an opera. In addition to his three Tony Awards, he earned Tony nominations for his Broadway scores of Golden Boy (1966), Charlie & Algernon (1980), Rags (1986) and Nick and Nora (1991). His musicals Annie and Bye Bye Birdie are among the Janet Dacal (Rosie), Charles Strouse, most popular of all time–produced by regional, amateur and school groups all over the George Merrick (Albert), and world. Director Jenn Thompson. Photo by Diane Sobolewski.
8 LEE ADAMS (Lyrics) was born in Mansfield, Ohio on August 14, 1924. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Ohio State University and then a Master’s degree from the renowned Columbia School of Journalism. For the next ten years he worked as a newspaper reporter, magazine writer and editor and radio writer and interviewer. Simultaneously, he began writing lyrics to accompany Charles Strouse’s music for reviews at the Green Mansions Summer Resort and special material for nightclub acts. He subsequently wrote songs with Strouse for theatrical revues in New York and London.
The first production for the team of Adams and Strouse was the musical,Bye Bye Birdie. It debuted on Broadway on April 14, 1960 and was an instant success. The initial production ran for over 600 performances and earned the 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical. Three years later a film version was released starring Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke and Ann Margaret.
The duo’s next musical, All American, opened on Broadway on March 19, 1962. Two years later on October 20, Golden Boy, starring Sammy Davis, Jr., opened and Adams and Strouse again received critical acclaim and success with a Tony nomination for Best Musical. Perhaps the most successful of the Adams and Strouse productions opened on March 30, 1970: Applause. The production won the Tony Award for Best Musical and ran for over 850 performances. Lee Adams In addition to his notable Broadway credits, Adams, with Strouse, wrote an acclaimed London musical, I and Albert, in 1972. Following that success, Adams became active in films and television. His theme for TV’s long-running All in the Family, titled "Those Were the Days," has been heard more often than any other television theme. He also wrote the lyrics for the acclaimed filmThe Night They Raided Minsky's.
MICHAEL STEWART (Book) was born on August 1, 1974 in Manhattan. He graduated from the Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts in 1953. Stewart began his career creating sketches and writing lyrics for revues that were produced at Green Mansions, a summer resort in New York with Strouse and Adams. He then contributed to the written materials for Shoestring Revues and worked on the concert adaptation of Candide.
Stewart’s Broadway debut, Bye Bye Birdie, was a major success and awarded him the Tony Award for his libretto. As a result, he was readily sought after and wrote the librettos for Carnival, which won him a Drama Critics Circle Award; Hello, Dolly!, which won him both Tony and Drama Critics Awards; 42nd Street; George M!; Mack & Mabel; Harrigan ‘n Hart; and The Grand Tour. He also wrote both the book and lyrics for I Love My Wife and the lyrics for Barnum.
Stewart died in New York City on September 20, 1987 at the age of 63. After his passing, Jule Styne said of him, “he was an extremely talented and knowledgeable man of the theatre. He was one of the great musical theatre writers, and his string of hits showed that.” Michael Stewart
9 DIRECTOR’S VISION BY JENN THOMPSON
Some shows stay with us. They last. They As creatives, we're not immune to brand a generation and then stick in our preconceptions, either, and we've collective musical theatre DNA. We hum the challenged ourselves to toss out our own tunes and sing the lyrics without necessarily biased notions about what this show knowing how we know them. They just is expected to look and feel like—and live in us—somewhere. But sometimes what a perfect venue for our venture. that deep affection and familiarity can The Goodspeed offers both intimacy and potentially come with a fairly limited view history, and we've used both as a jumping of what is possible and potent in a piece of off point—designing the show to include theatre. In other words: we take them for the audience and embrace the theatre granted. itself in an effort to create an inclusive, electrifying atmosphere that showcases Since bursting onto the scene as the the authenticity of small town America as surprise, runaway hit of the 1960/61 well as the immediacy of live performance. Broadway season, Bye Bye Birdie has East Haddam as our very own Sweet Apple! enjoyed a kind of unprecedented and What could be more fun? universal popularity. For good reason. Armed with a solid gold score and a sunny Director Jenn Thompson disposition, Birdie exploded into our Armed with a national consciousness, spawning multiple film versions, pop albums, sequels, and new song or two countless amateur productions. For many “and exciting, of us, Birdie is the very first show we saw, or did, or watched our kids do. bold dance arrangements My deep affection for this show is certainly personal. My first introduction was as a by Broadway’s young Broadway cast member of another David Krane, Charles Strouse mega-hit: Annie. And then again as a young woman when I played Kim we’ve taken a at the River Rep in lvoryton—the theatre my family ran for nearly two decades, fresh look at just up the road from Goodspeed. And these characters now, the opportunity to introduce it to a new generation of theatregoers; it is, and reinvested indeed, a thrilling one, but perhaps the in them. charge of reintroducing it to their parents and grandparents presents the biggest opportunity of all. Goodspeed has never produced” Bye Bye So how to shine a new light on an old Birdie—another wonderful and surprising friend? There's nothing to fix here—‘cause first! I cannot imagine a better setting in it ain't broke. But there sure is plenty to which to rediscover this classic, iconic, explore and excavate. And with Birdie's gloriously entertaining show. legendary creators Charles Strouse and Lee Adams' blessing and participation we've done just that. Armed with a new song or two and exciting, bold dance arrangements by Broadway’s David Krane, we’ve taken a fresh look at these characters and reinvested in them. Aiming to both remind audiences of why they fell in love with Birdie to begin with as well as surprise them with its craft and relevance.
10 BEHIND THE SCENES COSTUME DESIGN BY DAVID TOSER
Conrad Birdie Hugo
Kim MacAfee
Mae
Rosie
11 PROGRAM NOTES BY JOSHUA S. RITTER
When The New Yorker plot as it stands today. Lyricist Lee Adams interviewed Bye Bye suggested that they build the story around Birdie’s young producer an Elvis Presley-like rock star’s induction Edward Padula in May into the Army, and Stewart latched on to of 1960, he stated, ''I this key plot element. felt from the beginning that if I was going to Many, including the show’s songwriters, dive off and take a consider Bye Bye Birdie the first rock ’n’ chance, I might as well roll musical. Conrad Birdie has two rock take a big one.'' With its numbers, performed as parodies. The hummable hit songs and style of these numbers closely resembles riotously funny book, rockabilly, an early form of rock that blends Bye Bye Birdie is certainly country music with rhythm and blues. Bye a risk that has paid off Bye Birdie was certainly the first musical to for Padula, Broadway, use the nascent rock ’n’ roll phenomenon and countless musical as its primary theme. In fact, Edward theatre fans. Amazingly, Padula had a difficult time raising money when Bye Bye Birdie for the show, given its revolutionary rock opened on Broadway ’n’ roll content and Broadway’s widespread on April 14, 1960, the indifference to the burgeoning genre. producer, librettist, To make matters worse, Bye Bye Birdie’s lyricist, composer, and advance sales at the box office were most of the cast were abysmal. Nevertheless, Bye Bye Birdie’s fresh, virtually unknown. Chita ebullient, and satirical portrayal of youth Rivera landed her first culture won over the critics. Its enduring leading role as Rose success paved the way for other rock-based Alvarez. Leading man musicals, such as Hair, Tommy, Godspell, Dick Van Dyke made his Jesus Christ Superstar, and Pippin. musical comedy debut as Albert Peterson, and Dick Bye Bye Birdie’s lively score produced such Gautier made his first musical theatre favorites as “Put on A Broadway appearance Happy Face,” "A Lot of Livin' to Do," and as Conrad Birdie. Gower “Kids.” Composer Charles Strouse paired Champion had built up these classic show tunes with songs that considerable recognition as a dancer and demonstrated his understanding of the choreographer, but Bye Bye Birdie would new rock ’n’ roll sound, such as "One Last CLICK HERE to be his first experience as a stage director. Kiss" and "Telephone Hour." Strouse’s watch Chita Rivera Despite its unexpected breakout success, versatility, impressive musical training, perform "Spanish Bye Bye Birdie’s gestation period was and natural melodic gift positioned him to Rose." https://www.youtube.com/ somewhat prolonged and challenging. become one of the most celebrated musical watch?v=Xc8EY6W6FLU theatre composers in Broadway history. Initially, the show’s title was Let’s Go Steady, Strouse earned his first of three Tony and Padula announced plans to open in Awards for his work on Bye Bye Birdie. He CLICK HERE to October of 1958. However, he decided to earned his third Tony Award for the smash watch Dick Van postpone the show due to problems with hit Annie, which had its world premiere at Dyke perform "Put the book. The team kept hiring and firing Goodspeed Musicals. on a Happy Face." librettists in an effort to find someone who https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ could make the show work. Yet, Padula Choreographer and Director Gower CE7GqqrvY&list=RDI_CE7GqqrvY and his songwriters, Charles Strouse and Champion also won a Tony Award for his Lee Adams, believed in the project and wonderfully imaginative dance routines remained persistent in their efforts to and direction. His work conveyed an find a book writer who understood their all-inclusive sense of stage movement intentions. Finally, they recruited Michael by incorporating every stage element Stewart. Stewart contributed a great deal including set pieces and props. Having and was responsible for the Bye Bye Birdie made his name working as a dancer
12 on films, Champion brought a Hollywood sensibility to his Broadway projects. His unusual approach to stage direction and choreography made his work stand out even more. After Champion directed and choreographed Bye Bye Birdie, he never returned to performing.
Bye Bye Birdie won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Dick Van Dyke received a Tony while starring opposite Chita Rivera. The show launched Van Dyke’s career and helped lead to a weekly television sitcom bearing his name: The Dick Van Dyke Show. Although Rivera did not win a Tony for Bye Bye Birdie, she was nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and her performance established her as a versatile and extremely talented performer. Charles Strouse stated, “Birdie would never have been what it became were it not for Chita.” Surprisingly, she did not win her first Tony Award until she starred in The Rink in 1984.
Jenn Thompson is making her Goodspeed debut as the director of Bye Bye Birdie. Thompson has a deep personal affection for the show, having played Kim and worked with Charles Strouse as Pepper in the Broadway production of Annie. Thompson endeavors to reinvest in the characters while tossing out any biased preconceived notions of what the show is expected to become. She would like to “both remind audiences of why they fell in love with Birdie to begin with, as well as surprise Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera in them with its craft and relevance.” Thompson’s fresh take on the original Broadway production the youthful classic includes two added Strouse and Adams of Bye Bye Birdie. songs: “Bye Bye Birdie” from the 1963 film and “A Mother Doesn’t Matter Anymore” from the 1995 television presentation. Her version of the show will also include new dance arrangements by Broadway’s David Krane. Please “put on a happy face” and prepare to rediscover this gloriously entertaining musical comedy.
Charles Strouse and Lee Adams in 1960 at the recording session for the Birdie cast album. 13 1961: A NEW FRONTIER
Bye Bye Birdie brings us back to a simpler territory during his presidency. Instead, time when the influence of rock n’ roll idols’ Kennedy remained a key player in civil swiveling hips and trembling rights activism until his assassination in lips were the biggest worry on 1963. the minds of parents. However, the world was undergoing a CIVIL RIGHTS lot more turmoil and change Since the institution of the Jim Crow Laws in 1961 than the musical lets in the 1890s, African Americans in the South on. John F. Kennedy took had been forced into segregated conditions office, the first human flew while traveling on railways and buses. They into space, the Freedom Riders were forced to use separate waiting rooms were fighting for civil rights, and drinking fountains, and to sit at the Communism was spreading to back of the bus. Cuba and construction began on the Berlin Wall. The sixties sparked the journey of the Freedom Riders. These racially-integrated President Kennedy making his THE KENNEDY PRESIDENCY civil rights activists rode Greyhound inaugural address. President John F. Kennedy began his and Trailways buses into the segregated campaign in January of 1960. Kennedy southern states to test the Supreme Court CLICK HERE to faced Richard Nixon in an evolving political decisions that outlawed segregation on watch Kennedy's sphere, including the first televised debate interstate buses and segregated waiting inaugural address. and an all-important national popular rooms, lunch counters and restroom https://www.youtube.com/ vote. After one of the closest presidential facilities for interstate passengers, though watch?v=PEC1C4p0k3E elections of the 20th century, Kennedy the rulings were widely ignored in the Deep was sworn into office on January 20, 1961. South. The President famously proclaimed in his inaugural address: “We stand today on The first Freedom Ride departed the edge of a New Frontier—the frontier Washington, D.C. on May 4, 1961. During of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown this time, bus station ticket counters were opportunities and perils, the frontier of flooded with activists making their way unfilled hopes and south, including Dr. Martin Luther King, unfilled threats... Jr. Tensions peaked when an Alabama Beyond that frontier Freedom Rider bus ignited due to a are uncharted areas firebomb. of science and space, unsolved problems On September 22, 1961, discriminatory of peace and war, seating practices on interstate bus transit unconquered problems was finally outlawed by the Interstate of ignorance and Commerce Commision, which also ordered prejudice, unanswered the removal of "whites only" signs from bus questions of poverty terminals. and surplus.” His policies thus focused on tyranny, INTERNATIONAL TENSIONS poverty, disease and wars International relations were also a major of the time. factor of the time. Prior to Kennedy’s The Freedom Riders election, Vietnam was considered a The New Frontier was based on President drastically divided nation. In 1954, CLICK HERE Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal during the Communists controlled the Northern part to watch a Great Depression of 1930. The ambitious of the country, while anti-Communists documentary about domestic agenda included a package of dominated the South. The U.S. feared the Freedom Riders. laws and reforms that targeted American the continual spread of Communism in http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ americanexperience/freedomriders/watch injustice and inequality. The Kennedy Southeast Asia and subsequently increased administration consistently avoided an the flow of aid and equipment during the increase in military presence in Vietnam. By early 1960s. rejecting to commit combat troops, only 16,000 military advisors were in Vietnamese Tensions became increasingly present 14 between the U.S. and Cuba during the THE SPACE RACE sixties. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a three- On April 12, 1961 the Vostok day attempt to invade southern Cuba. 3KA spacecraft was launched. U.S.-trained forces of Cuban exiles fought On board was Yuri Gagarin, a to overthrow communist President Fidel cosmonaut from the Soviet Castro. In April 1961, a mock diversionary Union who would become the landing was organized by the CIA and first human to enter outer space. momentarily lured Castro away from the The spaceflight consisted of a Bay of Pigs battle area. The brigade of exiled single orbit of the earth. The Cubans was defeated by the Democratic flight took 108 minutes from Revolutionary Front. Castro’s leadership launch to landing and remains was strengthened, as was his alliance the shortest orbital manned with the Soviet Union. This later led to the spaceflight to date. declaration of Socialist Cuba and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. On May 5, only a few weeks after the Russian flight, U.S. Astronaut A symbolic barrier, the Berlin Wall separated Alan Shepard became the East Germany from West Germany for second man in space, piloting more than a quarter of a century. It was the Freedom 7. After a dramatic constructed during the post-World War II splashdown in the Atlantic era to symbolize an Iron Curtain between Ocean, a recovery helicopter Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc lifted the capsule partially out of nations. Construction began on August the water and Shepard emerged 13, 1961. During its existence, nearly 100 from the main hatch. For the first people were reported killed attempting time, the world was able to share escape over the wall into West Berlin. in the tension and excitement as the historic event unfolded on SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM: television in real time. Shepard THE DRAFT quickly became a celebrated For more than half a century, the United national hero, honored with States used the Selective Service System ticker-tape parades and the Alan Shepard to draft young men for mandatory military NASA Distinguished Service Medal. service. The agency worked to maintain information on those potentially subject On May 25, President Kennedy announced CLICK HERE to military obligations. It was the law for all a goal of landing a man on the moon by the to watch Alan male U.S. citizens to register with Selective end of the decade: “I believe that this nation Shepard's flight. Service, and subsequently, those between should commit itself to achieving the goal, https://www.youtube.com/ the ages of 18 and 25 were automatically before this decade is out, of landing a man watch?v=Jc0ccOmcPno enlisted. on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this From 1948 to 1973, men were drafted to fill period will be more impressive to mankind, vacancies in the armed forces during times or more important in the long-range CLICK HERE to of both peace and conflict. The involuntary exploration of space; and none will be so watch Kennedy's draft for Vietnam accelerated following difficult or expensive to accomplish.” Thus, Apollo speech. President Johnson’s informal declaration NASA’s Apollo Program was established, https://www.youtube.com/ of war. In 1973, the U.S. converted to an making 11 spaceflights and eventually watch?v=Kza-iTe2100 all-volunteer military, and eliminated the achieving Kennedy’s goal of landing a man draft. However, in 1980 President Carter on the moon on July 20, 1969. reinstituted the draft as a contingency plan to ensure the availability of a sufficient number of servicemen in a future crisis. It is technically still a man’s legal obligation to register for service today.
15 A ROCK REVOLUTION
Elvis Presley, The Shirelles and Chubby Other rockers rose to fame during this Checker rule the airwaves. The Pony and time, to the despair of many outraged The Twist are national dance crazes. Audrey parents. Bands like The Rolling Stones Hepburn takes on her most memorable role and The Beatles essentially dominated as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. U.S. pop culture with their performances, Americans were collectively glued to their a phenomenon deemed the British television sets as Alan Shepard launched Invasion. Acts from the United Kingdom into space. The year is 1961 and though garnered much attention on our side of the the sixties were a historically tumultuous pond, creating a culture of frenzied teen time, people still engaged in the simple worshippers. Fans relished in the teen idol pleasures of life in America. This included era, encompassing the first divergent youth the emergence of rock music, celebrity popular culture that was all their own. culture, and television landmarks, such as The Ed Sullivan Show. THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW Airing from 1948 to 1971, The Ed Sullivan A ROCK N' ROLL REVOLUTION Show was the primetime family program The music of the fifties consisted mostly of on Sunday evenings. Talents old and Doo-Wop groups and high tenor crooners new were showcased, with over 10,000 like Frank Sinatra. Then, teenagers of the performers debuting on Sullivan’s program late 1950s entered a rock revolution. The and becoming music legends of the new sound was aggressive, loud and openly decade. Elvis, The Beatles and The Jackson suggestive. Rock music contradicted all 5 all emerged onto the rock scene through aspects of adult culture, and the teens appearances on the show, which became Elvis Presley flocked to it. Elvis Presley, quite often the most popular portal through which referred to as the “King of Rock n’ Roll,” teens got their fix of rock. The Ed Sullivan CLICK HERE to was famously considered overly sexual for Show worked to bridge the generation watch The Beatles public television. In fact, he was always gap in 1960s America by uniting various on Ed Sullivan. filmed above the waist because older generations for the variety hour. He even https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jenWdylTtzs generations deemed his hip swiveling and took the step to proclaim rock as real pelvic thrusting inappropriate. music to skeptical adult viewers. Sullivan’s knack for eclectic talent seeking made him a pioneer in arranging and tracking promising musical acts for more than twenty years.
ROCK MUSICALS Rock n’ Roll also made a significant impact on the American Musical, attracting much younger audiences to the theatre. While early 1950s crooning style musicals like The Pajama Game were still playing, hints of rock music started to make its way into Broadway shows. Bye Bye Birdie is considered by many to be the first rock n' roll musical. It paved the way for a plethora of other rock shows, including Hair (1968); Jesus Christ Superstar (1970); Miss Saigon (1989); Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998); Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (2006) and many more.
The Beatles with Ed Sullivan
16 LISTEN TO THE #1 HITS OF 1961 click the songs below to listen "Wonderland by Night" by Bert Kaempfert
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles
"Calcutta" By Lawrence Welk
"Pony Time" by Chubby Checker The Shirelles "Surrender" by Elvis Presley
"Blue Moon" by The Marcels
"Runaway" by Del Shannon
"Mother-in-Law" by Ernie K-Doe
"Travelin' Man" by Ricky Nelson
"Running Scared" by Roy Orbison
"Moody River" by Pat Boone Del Shannon "Quarter to Three" by Gary U.S. Bonds
"Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis
"Wooden Heart (Muss I Denn)" by Joe Dowell
"Michael" by The Highwaymen
"Take Good Care of My Baby" by Bobby Vee
"Hit the Road Jack" by Ray Charles
"Runaround Sue" by Dion
"Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean
"Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by The Tokens Chubby Checker
17 INTERESTING FACTS
• There is a sequel to Bye Bye Birdie called Bring Back Birdie set 20 years in the future. In the sequel Albert and Rose Peterson try to find Birdie after he’s been in retirement to convince him to perform at the Grammy’s.
• Conrad Birdie has been through many name changes. Originally, the rock n’ roller was to be named Ellsworth. That was quickly changed to Conway Twitty, but when the real Conway Twitty threatened to sue, the name was finally changed to Conrad Birdie.
• Writer Michael Stewart’s original book, called Love and Kiss, upon which Bye Bye Birdie was to be based was about a couple going through divorce and how their kids help them reconcile.
• Bye Bye Birdie helped launch Chita Rivera’s career. Chita was originally a dancer. She broke into musical theater when her friend asked her to audition for Call Me Madam, and she ended up getting the part.
• Ed Sullivan was embarrassed by the hymn praising him when he saw the show on Broadway, but he agreed to make a cameo as himself in the film adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie.
• Bye Bye Birdie's first and only Broadway revival was in 2009 starring John Stamos as Albert Peterson.
RESOURCES
"The 1960s." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan. 2010. Web. 01 June 2016.
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